


When Masks are Dropped

by goodisrelative



Category: Castle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-27
Updated: 2009-12-27
Packaged: 2017-10-05 08:39:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodisrelative/pseuds/goodisrelative
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>And because of that, she grudgingly respects him as a man.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	When Masks are Dropped

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I have no idea where this came from, except for the fact that I generally write character pieces. And I think Castle is more than what he shows, based on how he is with his family and his daughter. I think life taught him to have the mask he has with the regular world. But, hey, that's my opinion and how I like to see favorite characters. Plus, we are only 2 eps in, so I could totally be off the plot.

  
  
  
**Entry tags:** |   
[castle](http://goodisrelative.livejournal.com/tag/castle), [castle fanfic](http://goodisrelative.livejournal.com/tag/castle+fanfic), [fanfic](http://goodisrelative.livejournal.com/tag/fanfic)  
  
---|---  
  
_**Castle Ficlet: When Masks are Dropped, PG**_  
_Title:_ When Masks are Dropped  
_Author:_ [](http://goodisrelative.livejournal.com/profile)[**goodisrelative**](http://goodisrelative.livejournal.com/)  
_Rating:_ PG  
_Spoilers:_ through _Nanny McDead_  
_Character/Pairing:_ Kate Beckett, Richard Castle / None  
Summary: _And because of that, she grudgingly respects him as a man._

_Author's note:_ Honestly, I have no idea where this came from, except for the fact that I generally write character pieces. And I think Castle is more than what he shows, based on how he is with his family and his daughter. I think life taught him to have the mask he has with the regular world. But, hey, that's my opinion and how I like to see favorite characters. Plus, we are only 2 eps in, so I could totally be off the plot.  
And thanks to Evil Twin, [](http://bets-cyn.livejournal.com/profile)[**bets_cyn**](http://bets-cyn.livejournal.com/), for the super fast beta. I still say em dashes without spaces are hard to read and I therefore use spaces. Life sucks.

* * *

It is when Castle tells her he took his daughter to the park everyday during the fall, spring and summer when the girl was younger. It is that moment, even though he ruins it with his crack about lonely mothers, when Kate begins to watch Castle much more closely. Learning about the park trips shocks her neat role for him as a chauvinistic, egotistical jerk so much so that she actually looks at him, and for once sees the man he is. He isn't lying to her.

So it starts then for Kate. She begins to see the mask he wears and it is better than hers will ever be. He might believe she can bluff the Times Bestseller List and not see when she lies to him; he's the one with the better everyday mask.

She'd met his daughter only once – for a moment after she'd arrested Castle on the first case they'd worked together – but Kate knows Castle sees Alexis as the best of him. And because of that, she grudgingly respects him as a man.

Maybe it's that, or maybe it's the little things she notices now. The look in his eyes late at night in autopsy makes it clear the dead nanny is more than just a character in a story. He sees the dead girl as a real person and it hurts him. Or the worry etched on his face when she faces the crazed, hurt, and scared kid cutting herself with a knife who's killed her friend over a sleazy adulterer.

Kate knew Castle would come in – it's standard for him to disregard her words the moment he agrees not to. But now she can't help but wonder _why_ he does it. It's not ego in those moments. She isn't ready yet to call it concern for her safety or even a need to not let her face a dangerous situation alone, despite the sea of cops outside.

She picked up her own mask long ago. As annoying as he is, Castle had been right – there had been a loved one murdered years ago that still drove her and her career. That event and other incidents later forged and solidified the mask she wears to face the day.

But she knows that Castle sees through it more times than she wants or feels is healthy for her. Her coworkers don't. They are too focused on the bigger picture to see the small cracks. Castle catches the details that are key to making a story. He sees those cracks before she can patch them and that worries her. She can't see the reason for his mask and that means that she is vulnerable and so far he isn't.

It's her own mask that can't let her see him clearly and that is a reality she isn't ready to face either. But it doesn't stop her from wondering why a man with seemingly everything would need to wear a mask to keep the world at bay just to avoid the pain and hurt Kate knows it can bring. Or why, now, with her, he's chosen to let some of it in by seeing the reality of crime he's never bothered to before – even if he is a bestselling crime author.


End file.
